


Five times Steve Rogers had to adjust to the modern world, and one time the modern world had to adjust to Steve Rogers

by oui_oui_mon_ami



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coming Out, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Post-Avengers (2012), haps baps steve you deserved better, one of those fics where they all live together and are happy and no one dies, takes place straight after avengers but peter's there for some reason idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 07:27:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15165638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oui_oui_mon_ami/pseuds/oui_oui_mon_ami
Summary: Cap @SteveRogersHOMOPHOBIA IS BAD. THAT IS MY OPINION. NOW CAN HOMOPHOBES PLEASE STOP USING ME FOR THEIR HATE. THANK YOU.(Written for Steve Rogers' birthday!)





	Five times Steve Rogers had to adjust to the modern world, and one time the modern world had to adjust to Steve Rogers

**1**

Steve could hear the loud, slightly obnoxious-sounding music all the way from the staircase down to Tony’s workshop. Tony had called it “classic rock”, and Steve honestly had no idea how Tony could work with that kind of racket blasting out of the workshop speakers.

 _“Shall I let Mr Stark know that you are on your way?”_ JARVIS asked out of nowhere, making Steve jump and almost drop the plate of sandwiches he was carrying.

“Yeah,” Steve said, and cleared his throat. “Yes, that’d be good. Thanks.”

_“You’re welcome, Captain.”_

Steve reached the bottom of the stairs and knocked on the Perspex door. He could see Tony pause in his work and stare off somewhere, as if listening to something. Tony looked over to Steve, who waved, and grinned as he jumped up and crossed the room to open the door. “Cap!” he exclaimed. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

Steve held up the plate he had brought down. “Lunch?”

Tony’s eyes widened for a second before giving Steve a lopsided grin. “Thanks, Capsicle, you read my mind. I was getting hungry. You want to come in? I can give you a tour of the place. I am one hundred per cent sure it’ll blow your mind.”

Steve shrugged. “Sure, as long as I’m not disturbing you.”

“Not at all, not at all,” Tony said, already back at the table he was working at with a sandwich in his mouth. “Check this out.” He put down the plate and held up a glove Steve recognised from one of his suits. “I’m working on making the shots from the gloves more versatile. So I’d be able to disable a whole bunch of targets within a certain area, and then pick off any stragglers, all within the space of a few seconds, and all using my hands.”

“Wow,” was all Steve could say. Tony was already at a different worktable, explaining something about an idea regarding gamma radiation that he’d gotten from Dr Banner, and his hands were flying because Tony talked with his hands, and his eyes were wide with excitement, like a child in a toy store. Steve supposed that to Tony, his lab was a little like a toy store, just with the kind of toys that could kill people if one desired them to.

A high-pitched, loud beeping behind him caused Steve to jump and turn. A metal structure with one claw-like arm was rolling towards him, beeping a greeting. Steve took a few steps back until he was against a table. “Uh… Tony?”

“Oh, don’t mind DUM-E here. He’s far too friendly for his own good,” Tony said, amused at Steve’s alarmed state. “Why don’t you say hi?”

“Um… hello?” Steve extended a tentative hand to the robot – DUM-E – who reached out with its claw and bumped Steve’s hand playfully. “I’m Steve Rogers. Nice to meet you.”

“No, that one’s U, over there,” Tony said, pointing to where another robot was pouring coffee into two mugs. “Oh look, he’s made you coffee. Now, if there’s motor oil in it, it means he likes you.”

Steve took the mug of coffee from the robot. “Thank you.” He took a sip and stifled a gag. Yep, definitely motor oil in there.

Tony was trying not to laugh at him. “You don’t have to drink it.”

Steve shook his head, taking the comment as a challenge. “Nah, I can handle a little motor oil. And I don’t want to seem rude.” He took another sip and suddenly regretted everything.

He could hear Tony chuckling, and turned to glare at him. Tony was staring at him with a wide smile and an unfamiliar fond sort of look in his eyes. “You really don’t have to drink it.” Steve took another gulp without breaking eye contact. The taste wasn’t getting any better. Tony licked his lips and cleared his throat. “It’s probably not all that good for you.”

Steve shrugged, trying not to grimace. “It’s not bad,” he lied.

Tony laughed out loud at that. “Come on, I’ve had enough cups of motor oil coffee to know that that’s bullshit.” He walked forward and eased the mug out of Steve’s hands.

Startled by their sudden proximity, Steve cleared his throat. “Well, I should leave you to it. Eat the rest of those sandwiches.” He backed away and almost walked into DUM-E.

Tony snorted a laugh. “See you later, Capsicle.”

 

**2**

Natasha was reading in the Avengers’ shared common room when she sensed the presence of someone at the door. “You can come in, Rogers,” she said, not looking up.

Steve walked over to sit on the couch opposite her. “Can I ask you a question?”

Natasha glanced up at him. Steve was holding his phone. “If you don’t know how to work that new phone Stark gave you, why don’t you ask him about it?”

“I’m not completely helpless when it comes to technology, you know.”

“Says the guy who exploded our microwave because he put aluminium foil in it.”

“That was partly Thor’s fault.”

Natasha smiled at him. “What do you need?”

Steve sighed. “Tony made me a Twitter account.”

Natasha looked at him, waiting for him to go on.

“And the public have found out about this Twitter account, and now they’re asking me questions.”

“And you don’t know how to answer them so that you please the most people.”

Steve smiled. “If you phrase it like that, you make me sound deceptive. No, it’s just that some of the questions are so political, and I don’t want to accidentally make enemies by talking about something I know nothing about.”

“Like…?”

Steve pulled up the Twitter app on his phone. “Like the several people asking if I support Obama. He’s our President now, right?”

Natasha nodded. “They just want to get a rise out of you, find out if you’re secretly racist or something. If you want to please the liberals, say good things about him.”

“Okay, okay,” Steve said, nodding. Natasha could practically see the cogs in his brain whirring as they did whenever Steve tried to process all the new information of the 21st Century. “And what about feminism? It seems like a pretty heated topic.” He offered Natasha his phone, and she scrolled through a few tweets that had tagged Steve, asking whether he was a feminist or replying that of course he wouldn’t support those man-hating feminists.

Natasha handed back the phone. “Are you familiar with what feminism is?”

“It used to just be about equality,” Steve said, grimacing, “but now the word is so politically charged it means different things to different people, and I don’t know what to think.”

“It’s still about equality. It always has been. But women who actually do hate men do so under the guise of feminism, and men who don’t like the movement generalise those women to all feminists.” She shrugged. “You’re a good man, Steve. Your own beliefs should be enough for the world. And if not… I’m entertained by Twitter fights.”

Steve laughed. “Thanks, Natasha, that’s real reassuring,” he said, half indignant sarcasm, half genuine gratitude.

Later, Stark stuck his head into the common room. “Was it your idea to allow Captain America to get into a Twitter fight with a bunch of sexist men?”

Natasha looked up from her book. “Why would you think that? I only advised him to speak his mind. Whatever interactions he’s had with other Twitter members as a result of him expressing his opinions are entirely down to him.”

“Oh? Well, that’s a shame. If you’d have told him to go off on the misogynists of Twitter, I’d have thanked you. It’s provided me with an awful lot of entertainment over the last couple of hours.” And with that, Stark disappeared, probably to return to his workshop.

Natasha pulled up her own Twitter account on her phone, and immediately found that the “Captain America” topic was trending. She tapped on the topic and scrolled through several threads of angry men calling Steve out for being an “avid feminist, if feminism still means what it meant back in the 40s: equality for everyone, regardless of gender”, and Steve replying to them and eloquently but firmly shutting down their arguments. Natasha felt strangely proud.

 

**3**

**Captain America** : Peter, I have a question. – S. Rogers

 **You** : hi captain rogers

 **You** : ask away

 **Captain America** : What is ‘yeet’? – S. Rogers

 **You** : ASJKLFJSDFDLDAFJKSDLJ

 **You** : its a meme sksdfjksddkfksk

 **Captain America** : What is a meme? – S. Rogers

 **You** : u kno u dont have to sign all ur texts i kno theyre from u

 **Captain America** : I know, I’ve been told that by several people. If it makes you happier, I’ll stop.

 **You** : cool cool tbh its kinda weird

 **Captain America** : Is it? LOL.

 **You** : aksfdkjskdds omg

 **Captain America** : Did I use that wrong?

 **You** : no i just never thought id experience captain america saying lol

 **Captain America** : Oh. So what is a meme?

 **You** : its like a trend on the internet where a piece of media gets spread round a lot

 **You** : this is where yeet came from

 **You sent a video** : _thisbitchempty_yeet.vid_

 **Captain America** : Is this supposed to be comedy?

 **You** : dumb gen z humor yeah

 **Captain America** : I see. And you told Thor about this?

 **You** : sjakfldjak did he uSE IT IN A BATTLE AJDFHDJS

 **Captain America** : So it was your idea?

 **You** : i thought it wd be funny for him to use it w mjolnir

 **Captain America** : It would have been funny had any of us known what he was talking about.

 **Captain America** : And I suppose you were also the one who told him about that small electric animal from the cartoon?

 **You** : pikachu??

 **You** : no i think that was mr stark

 **Captain America** : Of course it was.

 **You** : soooooooo

 **You** : u wanna say yeet when u throw ur shield???

 **Captain** **America** : I’ll consider it.

 **You** : YAY

 **You** : also

 **You** : i think u might wanna see this

 **You** **sent a video** : _captainamerica_vine.vid_

 **Captain America** : Holy shit.

 **Captain America** : Do people really think this?

 **Captain America** : This is hilarious but I hate it so much.

 **You** : ur welcome

 **Captain America** : Okay, thanks to the Internet, I now have to go and re-evaluate my entire fighting style. Goodbye, Peter.

 **You** : byeee captain rogers

\---

 **Mr Stark** : kid, can I ask you something?

 **You** : sure mr stark go ahead

 **Mr Stark** : have you been teaching Thor and Cap memes?

 **You** : …..yes

 **You** : why do u ask??

 **Mr Stark** : oh… just the fact that they’ve both started yelling ‘YEET’ whenever they throw their respective weapons

 **You** : sjdkflsjdskfssjklfdjf hE ACTUALLY DID IT AKJFLJSK

 **Mr Stark** : I don’t know whether to laugh or despair

 **Mr Stark** : I was trying to protect Cap from the internet, now you’ve just gone and destroyed his innocence

 **You** : IM SORRY

 **Mr Stark** : I’m just messing with you. it was only going to be a matter of time before Cap learned how to properly navigate the internet

 **Mr Stark** : the only problem is that Cap’s started making a Lot of vine references and it’s pretty annoying

 **You** : well when life gives u lemons

 **Mr Stark** : Peter.

 **You** : sorry sorry sorry

 

**4**

Stark had taken Cap, Banner and Clint out to lunch, at a small café in a side street where they wouldn’t get noticed by the paparazzi. Strangely, the four of them went the entire meal without arguing, even when Stark insisted on settling the bill despite Cap going on about charity and independence and how Stark didn’t need to pay for _everything_.

(Clint, who was quite happy with Stark paying for everything, kept quiet.)

The breeze picked up as they walked quickly back to Stark Tower; it was November and the sky was overcast and pale grey. Clint and Banner didn’t have to disguise themselves from the public, but Stark and Cap were both sporting hats and sunglasses that looked even more suspicious in the current weather.

Suddenly, about a block away from the Tower, Cap stopped in his tracks. Clint and the others turned to see what shocking thing had managed to surprise Captain America and found him staring, wide-eyed, across the road. At two men. Who were kissing on the pavement.

“Oh no,” Clint heard Banner mutter.

“C’mon, Cap,” Stark said, voice sounding unusually strained.

Cap remained standing stock-still, looking like all the air had been punched out of him. Clint knew that they needed to move before Cap accidentally caused a scene – the guy meant well, but who knew what kind of thoughts were running through his head at this moment?

“Hey!” one of the men, who had just noticed Cap staring at him, yelled. “What’re you looking at?”

“Shit,” Clint said under his breath, and took Cap’s arm, pulling him forwards. “Come on.” Thankfully, Cap followed.

When they were out of earshot of the two men, Cap cleared his throat. “So that’s okay now?”

“Yes, Cap, believe it or not, that’s okay,” Stark snapped. “You got a problem with that?”

“What? I…”

Clint saw Stark roll his eyes, and then the billionaire stormed on ahead.

Cap sighed. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I still have a lot to learn.”

“Don’t mind Tony,” Banner replied. “He… he’s faced a lot of hate in the past. Usually it wouldn’t bother him, but… he cares about what you think. He’s hurt right now, but he’ll bounce right back, don’t worry.”

“It’s all still so new to me, but that’s not an excuse.” Cap looked at his feet. “You think you could… help me? With…” – he gestured back to where the men were – “that?”

“Sure thing, Cap,” Clint replied. He didn’t exactly _want_ to educate Cap about LGBTQ history, but he knew that the public would _not_ like it if Captain America started spouting homophobic comments. Clint decided, for some reason, to do the selfless thing and cancel his afternoon plans of bingeing cooking shows in favour of giving Cap a history lesson.

Once they got back to the Tower, Banner left to check on Stark, and Clint took Cap up to the roof with a tablet. “A lot has changed, you’re right,” he said. “It kinda started with this guy called Kinsey, whose research proved that same-gender attraction was normal, and exactly the same as different-gender attraction. He proposed that most people fall somewhere on this scale.” He held up the tablet, which showed the Kinsey scale. “On this end, you have heterosexuals, who only experience attraction to different genders. Like me: straight as an arrow.” He mimed shooting an arrow. “And then on the other extreme, you have gay people, who only experience attraction to the same gender. Like… Elton John. Or Ellen DeGeneres.” Cap probably didn’t know who those people were.

“So you can be somewhere in the middle?”

“Yeah, Kinsey said that sexuality is a spectrum, and people can experience attraction to more than one gender. They’re known as bisexuals.”

Cap’s eyes grew wide. “Bisexual?” he said, almost a whisper.

“Yeah,” Clint continued, before noticing that Cap’s expression had turned to exactly the one he’d had when he’d seen those two men kissing in the street. “You… Cap, do you think you’re bisexual?”

Cap swallowed. “I’ve always… felt the same way about fellas as I do about girls. I thought – no, I didn’t think the way I felt was wrong, or unnatural, but other people thought that. To know for certain that it’s not, and that there’s a word for people like me…”

Clint nodded. “It’s a relief?”

“Yeah.” Cap sounded choked up, and Clint clapped him on the back. “What about Tony? Is he…?”

“Stark's pansexual, which means he’s attracted to anyone regardless of what gender they identify as,” Clint replied.

Cap’s eyes went wide. “Oh,” he said. “He must think I’m a complete jerk.”

Clint nodded, grimacing. “Yeah.”

“This is when you’re supposed to reassure me that Tony doesn’t, in fact, think I’m a jerk,” Cap said, nudging Clint playfully.

“You should go and talk to him,” Clint said. “He’ll understand if you explain what was going through your mind at the time.”

“You think?”

“Yeah. Contrary to popular belief, Stark thinks the best of people. Especially you.” Clint sighed, not sure if he should share this with Cap. “He really does care about you, you know.”

They sat in silence for a while. Clint knew that Stark was head-over-heels for Cap – in fact, everyone was at least somewhat aware of that except for Cap himself – but he hadn’t thought about Cap reciprocating those feelings until now. Cap did spend an awful lot of time around Stark, and he looked at him with the same fondness that Stark looked at him.

“I’m going to talk to Tony,” Cap said, more to himself than to Clint, and stood up. “Thank you for your help, Clint. I really appreciate it.”

“Not at all, Cap. Just remember this moment the next time you want me to do one of those boring ‘community service’ PR things. You owe me.”

Cap laughed. “Sure, sure.”

 

**5**

“Thor, we are not watching _The Notebook_ again. Or _Titanic_. No cheesy rom-coms.”

Thor pouted as Tony reprimanded him. “But they are good films that show the best of affection in the face of the mortality of Midgardians.”

“You really think that Kate Winslet letting Leo DiCaprio freeze to death because apparently there wasn’t enough room on the raft for them both is ‘the best of affection’?” Tony scoffed. “You’d get a real kick out of _Romeo and Juliet_ , I’ll tell you that.” Tony snatched the remote from Thor and sat next to Steve. “What are we thinking, Cap? Sci-fi? Fantasy? There are probably loads of classics you still haven’t watched, right?”

Steve shrugged, smiling back at Tony. “There’s a sequel to that Star Wars film we watched last month, right? I enjoyed that.”

“Wait, you still haven’t seen _The Empire Strikes Back_?” Clint asked from his perch on the edge of Natasha’s chair. “So he doesn’t know-” Natasha quickly silenced him by kicking him off the chair in one swift movement.

“No one spoil anything,” Tony said, already grinning with excitement as he brought up Star Wars Episode V on the screen. “You’re gonna love this, Cap.”

Tony couldn’t help but watch Steve as the film played. He could practically quote the entire film from memory anyway, and watching Steve’s reactions, with his eyes wide with wonder at the futuristic spaceships and the different planets, was far more entertaining. Not to mention the fact that Steve was so engrossed in the film that he wouldn’t notice Tony staring at him for the whole thing.

When it came to That Part of the film, Tony watched closely for Steve’s reaction. Thor, who had also not seen the film, immediately gasped and exclaimed “No!”, but Steve merely shrugged and said, “I saw that coming.”

Tony blinked, incredulous. “You _saw that coming_? The biggest plot twist in the history of cinema and you _saw it coming_?”

“I thought that the biggest plot twist in the history of cinema was in _Frozen_ when Hans betrayed Anna.” Thor said.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Rogers. You can’t just see that for the first time and shrug like it’s not important. That’s basically sacrilege for the whole sci-fi industry!”

Steve laughed. “Come on, Tony. Darth Vader and Luke had to be connected somehow, otherwise there wouldn’t be enough at stake. And from what I’ve seen of popular culture, films like to use family ties to give their characters meaningful motives.”

Tony scoffed. “I can’t believe this.”

“Um, guys, could you maybe shut up?” Bruce said quietly. “My favourite part’s coming up.”

They watched the film in silence. After a while, Tony felt Steve’s arm settle on the back of the sofa behind him, and he turned to Steve, one eyebrow raised. But Steve was just smiling at him in his open, honest way, like he was laying all his thoughts out for everyone to see.

And then, suddenly, Steve’s lips were on his.

Tony’s thoughts halted as he froze, and he couldn’t sense anything else apart from him and Steve. Once he regained control of his mind, he forced his body to kiss Steve back, and his hands were in Steve’s hair, and now he was basically straddling Steve as their kissing got more and more desperate and heated.

They both pulled back as the room was suddenly filled with light, and Tony remembered the four other people in the room. Who were currently by the door and staring at them. “Uhh…” Tony said eloquently.

“Brucie, you owe me five bucks,” Clint said, a shit-eating grin on his face. Bruce rolled his eyes and handed Clint a green note out of his pocket. Despite the blush Tony felt quickly appearing on his face, he glared at the pair and flipped them off.

“Many congratulations to the two of you,” Thor said jovially. “I hope that you treat each other well.”

“Come on, all of you, let’s leave them to it,” Natasha said, although Tony could definitely see the ghost of a smile on her rouged lips. “Use protection, you two!” she called backwards as the four disappeared.

Tony cleared his throat and slowly extracted himself from Steve’s lap. “So.”

“So,” Steve echoed. “You like me.”

“Yes,” Tony said truthfully. Well, there was no point in denying it now. “And you like me.”

“Obviously.”

Tony grinned. “You wanna make out some more?”

Steve was already leaning closer. “Of course.”

 

**+1**

_A livestream of a press conference. Sitting at the front are four of the Avengers, all of them minus Bruce Banner, who, understandably, is not fond of crowded, noisy spaces, and the SHIELD agent known to the public as Black Widow. Captain Steve Rogers and Tony Stark sit in the middle, between Thor and SHIELD Agent Clint Barton. Stark has started the press conference by introducing the Avengers Foundation to aid the clean-up efforts after New York and help the thousands affected by the alien attack. The team are now answering general questions from journalists._

_A journalist from the front row has a question for Captain Rogers. “There has been a lot of speculation recently on where you stand on the issue of gay rights. While you have made no public comment on the matter, many anti-homosexuality groups are using your name as part of their campaign. Do you have any comment on this?”_

_Rogers’ expression immediately darkens, and the rest of the Avengers visibly tense. “I wasn’t aware of this happening. What kind of things are they saying?” Rogers says calmly._

_“They say things about how you don’t like the way this country’s going what with marriage equality, and that you’d be ashamed of gay people, things like that.”_

_Rogers is silent for a moment, and takes a deep breath. His fists are clenched tightly. “If I had known that that was happening, I would have put an end to it straight away. That stuff, and excuse my language, but that stuff those groups are saying about me is bullshit. The fact that they think they can just use me because I used to live in a violently homophobic time is bullshit. I am completely in favour of the gay rights movement, and I apologise for not making that clear sooner.”_

_Stark turns to Rogers and gives him a small smile, which Rogers returns. A young journalist with short hair and a rainbow camcorder with which she is filming stands up. “Excuse me, Captain Rogers,” she says, “but how can we be sure that you’re in favour of the gay rights movement? As you said, you are from a time period that was more homophobic than today, and you have made no mention of the LGBTQ+ community before today. How do we know that you really are an ally?”_

_Rogers grimaces. “Well, ma’am, not everyone in the ‘40s actually condoned homophobia. Just because it was the major belief at the time that homosexuality is wrong doesn’t mean every single person believed it. And considering I’m a bisexual man currently in a relationship with Tony Stark, I’d like to consider myself part of the group of people back then that didn’t think homosexuality is wrong.”_

_The room erupts with journalists yelling over each other. Rogers is seen looking shocked, as if he has only just realised what he said. Stark is smirking. Barton, having not been asked any questions for the duration of the press conference, is playing on his phone. Thor looks as happy as always. Stark’s secretary Pepper Potts quickly moves to the front of the room and attempts to quiet down the journalists as Rogers and Stark make a hasty exit. It takes considerable effort to get the journalists to calm down, but eventually order is restored and a journalist from near the back asks Thor a question about physicist Jane Foster, which Thor gladly answers._

\---

 **Cap** @SteveRogers  
HOMOPHOBIA IS BAD. THAT IS MY OPINION. NOW CAN HOMOPHOBES PLEASE STOP USING ME FOR THEIR HATE. THANK YOU.

 **Cap** @SteveRogers  
There were queer people back in the ‘40s, I’ll have you know. You might not know about them because, I don’t know, it was illegal to be gay back then.

 **Cap** @SteveRogers  
RACISM IS BAD. SEXISM IS BAD. TRANSPHOBIA IS BAD. THESE ARE ALSO MY OPINIONS. NOW CAN RACISTS, SEXISTS AND TRANSPHOBES ALSO PLEASE STOP USING ME FOR THEIR HATE. THANK YOU.

 **Cap** @SteveRogers  
In response to the alarming number of people who asked: Yes, I’m dating @tonystark. No, he does not wear the Iron Man suit in bed.

 **You Know Who I Am** @tonystark replied to @SteveRogers  
Do you want me to??

 **Cap** @SteveRogers replied to @tonystark  
We can discuss that at home.

 **You Know Who I Am** @tonystark replied to @SteveRogers  
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

**Author's Note:**

> sorry if this got a little too political for a fluffy bday fic lol
> 
> my tumblr is sunshine-soprano if you want to yell at me on there


End file.
